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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27426823">You Are What You Eat</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mindwriter2000/pseuds/Mindwriter2000'>Mindwriter2000</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 00:21:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,504</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27426823</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mindwriter2000/pseuds/Mindwriter2000</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Marinette finds Chat Noir choked up and lonesome on her balcony, she decides she has to invite him in and show him that he is loved. Especially before he makes a mess of her balcony garden!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>108</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Marichat</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>You Are What You Eat</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thank you to the Kitty Love zine, my beta: DoughnutsForever, and to yuumi (https://yuumi0035.tumblr.com/) for the lovely art! Please go check out Yuumi's and the other Kitty Love zine participants' pieces on Tumblr. Yuumi will be posting the piece shown in this fic soon, so be on the lookout and send lots of love!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>A handful of gardenia petals danced past Marinette’s window. She would have continued to watch them fall had she not realized they were pouring from directly over her balcony. Her hand released the pencil she had been drawing with, letting it bounce against the desk and roll off the edge.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>As Marinette approached the skylight above her bed, she started to hear coughing. The voice was awfully familiar. She opened the skylight and peered out, freezing when she saw a dark figure bent over the edge of the railing around her balcony. Marinette knew of the fictional concept, but how could it be real? Sure enough, her partner stood there, small and shriveled, struggling to breathe as petals fell from his lips. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Chat Noir, I had no idea! I’m so sorry!” Marinette emerged from her bedroom, running up to him in a panic. “How long—”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She paused when Chat Noir’s squirming expression turned toward her. His cringe deepened when he became self-aware of the situation Marinette had caught him in. He paled, trying to smile. Wedged in his teeth, another petal waved like a flag. That’s when she noticed the bulbless stem between the index and thumb of his right hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can explain,” he blurted, blowing the last petal from his mouth. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Marinette’s eyes widened, “You’ve… been eating my flowers?!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No!—Oh, yes…” Chat blinked and looked away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why did you say no the first time?” Marinette frowned at the wilted flower stem. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I expected you to say something absurd,” he blushed, flashing a crooked smile. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her eyes shifted directly to Chat’s, causing him to flinch. She tilted her head and crossed her arms, “And </span>
  <em>
    <span>what </span>
  </em>
  <span>about eating flowers </span>
  <em>
    <span>isn’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>absurd, exactly?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This time, Chat Noir’s entire face turned red. “I… I heard they were edible, and I got curious.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At least he was honest. Marinette shook her head and sighed, “That’s all it took for you to try it?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, no… I just found out when I was a kid I tried eating a flower decoration from the dinner table. I wanted to remind myself of how it tasted...” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You-,” Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose, “you’re the type that gets grounded a lot, aren’t you?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat Noir frowned, looking somewhere between pouty and distracted. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So the kitty cat </span>
  <em>
    <span>is</span>
  </em>
  <span> a troublemaker,” Marinette smirked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She expected a sarcastic response from Chat Noir, but instead, his ears flattened against his head, “It’s not like there’s anything that </span>
  <em>
    <span>doesn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> get me in trouble.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Her face fell. Suddenly Marinette’s destroyed flowers were the least of her problems. “What do you mean?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Chat shook his head, blinking up at her as if he forgot who he was talking to. He flashed her a smile, “You’re right, I’m a pretty obnoxious cat. I’m sorry about your flowers...” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette stared at him. Smiling usually makes an apology seem ingenuine, but it was the other way around this time. She knew his smile well, and that wasn’t it. And in this case, she was glad the smile wasn’t real. It was a relief to know he at least didn’t like speaking about himself that way. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know what?” Marinette stepped to the side, plucking at a browning leaf beneath one of her flowers, “some of these need pruning anyway.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hung his head, “You don’t have to make me feel better…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not. What you did was absolutely crazy,” Marinette started snipping flowers from different pots. She continued, “But it was funny, you make me laugh and it’s something I like about you. I don’t know what your family made you believe about yourself, but I’m going to tell you what </span>
  <em>
    <span>I </span>
  </em>
  <span>believe.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Huh?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t you come inside and hang out for a little while?” She walked past him, clutching a bundle of various flowers. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your flowers!” Chat Noir screeched. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette looked back at him, “They’ll grow back. Now come here!” </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Not willing to argue further, she continued to lower herself into her room, climbing through the skylight. Tail between his legs, Chat Noir followed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He crawled across her bed, ignoring the fashion-reference-photographs of himself pinned to her wall, and carefully walked down the stairs. He knew better than to tease Marinette about the embarrassing collection of posters, but he couldn’t help catching her screensaver as he passed by. After all, he couldn’t figure out how a collage edit of himself with hearts around his face was a good fashion reference. “Woah—uh, did you make that?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>He glanced down at Marinette, who was laying the flowers on the ground. She smiled up at him and looked where he was pointing. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“No!” Marinette jumped to her feet, lunging toward the computer mouse, “I-I mean yes, but…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But…?” Chat Noir tilted his head, unsure of how to react. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“It’s just a silly little—you know, it’s-”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Fanart?” </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Fan?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Marinette frowned, “he’s one of my closest friends!” </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>He blushed, “Oh, I didn’t know I wasn’t your only celebrity friend.” </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“I’d rather not call him a ‘celebrity friend’ either, I met him before I knew who he was.” She added shyly, “I’m a bit out of the loop sometimes…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I have no doubt that he’s more than a trophy friend,” Chat Noir smiled, “actually he seems like more than a friend here—</span>
  <em>
    <span>oh. </span>
  </em>
  <span>I… rest my case.” </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Once Chat Noir had turned back toward the computer, he finally noticed what had shown up on the computer after the screensaver faded away. A cheap-looking website with obnoxiously bright pinks flashed a bold “100%” over a meter, specifically a love-compatibility meter with the names “Marinette” and “Adrien” typed in. The site also displayed stats of their lucky colors, gem, and even lucky flowers. In front of the computer was Marinette’s sketchbook with a sketch of twin bracelets modeled after the information on the screen, labeled ‘soulmate bracelets’. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“It’s not like that!” Marinette powered the computer monitor off. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Why else would you be doing this or… have a screensaver like that?” Chat Noir struggled to swallow as he forced himself to maintain eye contact with Marinette. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Marinette scrunched her face in thought, “A… joke? Yeah, eheheh…” </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“A joke?” </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>The room became quiet. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Chat took a deep breath, “Why is he a joke...well, I mean… does he know you’re making jokes about him?” </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“It’s…ok it’s not a joke,” she sighed. “But you have to promise not to tell Adrien that I like him!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat Noir batted his eyes wildly, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh.” </span>
  </em>
  
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...What?” </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Nevermind, your secret’s safe with me.” He suddenly was urgent to change the subject, “What were we doing?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette blinked suspiciously, “I was going to make you something…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat’s eyes widened curiously, “Can I make something?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sure, let’s have an arts-and-crafts party!” Marinette knelt down to arrange the flowers. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He clasped his hands together, looking around, “Where are your beads?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All of my small materials are in that drawer on my desk. Beads, glitter, string…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Awesome!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Although Marinette didn’t understand what Chat Noir was up to, his excitement made her smile. He sprawled himself face-down on the floor, kicking his feet back and forth in the air as he busied himself with delicate craftsmanship. Whatever was going through his head, it was making his smile as gorgeous as it had ever been. The thought made Marinette work faster. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just as Chat Noir was finishing up, he felt something light on top of his head. He reached up to touch it but stopped when Marinette knelt in front of him with a small mirror. “What do you think?” she murmured shyly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At first Chat Noir could only gape up at his reflection dumbly, still laying down and propped up on his knees, hands frozen in work. “I’m… pretty…” he heard himself say, followed by what he could’ve sworn had been music, which was actually Marinette’s laugh. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now you have your personalized flower crown! I chose the flowers carefully, just for you.” She pointed at the thyme blossoms, “These represent strength; I’ve never met someone with such a strong heart as yours. Peonies represent happiness, and you’re always spreading happiness to those around you. And the Lily of the Valley represents sweetness. You’re incredibly sweet and… all of these things are just a fraction of what makes you so important to me.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat Noir had stopped watching his reflection and was now staring silently at Marinette. Her eyes were steady and he suddenly understood the difference between like and love. He smiled and finally got up, kneeling upright. He reached out his left hand to request Marinette’s, and so she placed her hand in his without thinking. He brought his right hand forward, something colorful cradled inside. She felt plastic beads against her skin as he rested the creation over her wrist. She gasped when he removed his right hand. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“This is </span>
  <em>
    <span>my</span>
  </em>
  <span> gift. My first thought was that I had to be the one to make it for you.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette smiled just as brightly as Chat Noir, gazing at the perfect construction of the bracelet she had designed for her soulmate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
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    <br/>
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    <br/>
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    <br/>
  </span>
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    <br/>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p><p>
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